C                    F 
Big galvanised roofs and monster pipes black 
G7                           C 
Pink and white clouds from a chimney stack 
C                         F 
Red dust and hawks in the wind out back 
    G7               C 
And here I am at the Isa 
 
 
C   F   G7  C   C   F   G7  C   
 
C                   F         
What do you do in a town like the Isa 
  G7               C 
Retrenched at 50 become an old miser 
C                              F 
Drink yourself blind so you're none the wiser 
       G7                          C 
Sit at home with the race form and whinge 
     C                    F 
Just over the hill in his own backyard 
    G7                  C 
The landscape becomes a picture postcard 
          C                        F 
Where the colours are soft but the life is hard 
       G7                   C 
On the stations here at the Isa 
 

C   F   G7  C   C   F   G7  C   
Tonight's the night of the rodeo ball 

Before riders and bull and horses stand tall 

While out in the park some black people sprawl 

And share their money on flagons 

There's so much more to be understood 

Before coming out here like Robin Hood 

The do-gooders do more harm than good 

Without really knowing the Isa 
  

C   F   G7  C   C   F   G7  C   
Through the Leichhardt East 

Where fools gold flashes 

Fossick around for Maltese Crosses 

Flog them off to the tourist buses 

See ghost gums under the moon 

Some really battle some make do 

The luckier ones make a quid and pull through 

Some perch at the bar like a caged cockatoo 

But that's nothing new at the Isa 
 

C   F   G7  C   C   F   G7  C   
And it takes a special kind of girl 

To stay out here in this rugged world 

Keep your dignity when the oathes are hurled 

I pay my respects to you 

And I'll raise my glass to an outback town 

To that weathered spirit that won't back down 

It takes the courage of a rodeo clown 

To stick it out at the Isa 
 

C   F   G7  C   C   F   G7  C   
Big galvanised roofs and monster pipes black 

Pink and white clouds from a chimney stack 

Red dust and hawks in the wind out back 

And here I am at the Isa 
 

      C                           F 
Never thought I'd return to this lonely track 
    G7                    C 
And here I am back at the Isa 
C   F   G7  C   C   F   G7  C